Who stole Lynn’s backyard valuables?
Council contractors are to blame for missing valuables after an inorganic collection, one angry resident claims.
Lynn Worley arranged for an old mattress and ‘‘junk from the garage’’ to be picked up from her Papakura address in July.
She placed the items in a pile on her property as required under the new collection system.
Returning home from work she was ‘‘shocked’’ to see her copper planter and palm tree also gone along with a number of other items meters away.
A car exhaust system, a boat seat and anchor, steel plates and wood panels were also missing from the front of her house.
Worley reported the missing items and was later told by council there was no evidence to show the workers had taken them.
Photos taken by contractors during the collection were sent to Worley as part of the investigation.
It concluded the first truck sent to the property found no recyclables and a second truck arrived to take the rubbish from the 1 cubic metre size pile.
One photo shows a worker away from the pile where items went missing, Worley says.
She is ‘‘adamant’’ the collectors have gone ‘‘further than the rubbish pile and taken items they shouldn’t have taken which are worth a few dollars’’.
‘‘He was looking behind the car for recyclable items. That’s not the rubbish pile.
‘‘Where he was, was where the items went missing from,’’ she says.
Auckland Council waste solutions manager Ian Stupple says Worley’s concerns have been taken ‘‘very seriously’’.
‘‘We have fully investigated the matter, including reviewing all of the information the customer has provided and the photos taken of the site during the inorganic collection. Both the council and our inorganic collections contractor, Waste Management, have conclu- ded that there is no evidence to suggest that any staff members were involved with items being stolen from the property,’’ he says.
Regular audits of ‘‘trucks out in the field’’ ensures the collection teams are following the ‘‘right processes and collecting the right items’’, Stupple says.
‘‘Photos are also taken before and after collection to show what has been removed from properties.’’